London 2012 Medal Count: Nations That Are Leading the Gold Medal Race

We're four days into the 2012 London Olympics, and already we've seen 38 of the 302 events decided and medals handed out to the respective athletes.

The usual countries such as China and the United States are both high in the medal count, but just like every Olympic Games, there are always nations that surprise us with their results and medal count.

Read on to see a complete count of all the medals at the 2012 London Olympics—the countries that are leading the gold medal race and the countries that have surprised us with their performances and results so far.

China once again is leading the medal count at the Olympic Games—racking up 17 medals including nine gold medals to sit atop the leaderboard.

They've picked up gold in a plethora of events already including gymnastics, diving, weightlifting and swimming and will continue to be near the top throughout the remainder of the 2012 Olympics.

Whether they can remain on top and whether they can match their incredible effort at the 2008 Beijing Olympics of 51 gold medals still remains to be seen.

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Second place: United States (17 medals total)

Currently sitting in second place is the United States who, despite having the same number of medals as China, trail due to the fact they only have five gold medals so far.

Team USA looks strong again this year, as always, and could have had significantly more gold medals in the 2012 Olympics so far—finishing an agonizing second in events such as the men's 100-meter freestyle relay, the women's 100-meter breaststroke, women's 400-meter freestyle and the men's team archery.

They were so close but so far away in all of those events, but will no doubt continue to remain near to the top of the medal tally throughout the 2012 London Olympics, and could even make a push for the top spot throughout the duration of the Games.

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Third place: Japan (11 medals total)

Japan close out the top three with their 11 medals so far, despite only picking up the one gold medal throughout the Games. That came in the women's 57kg judo, where event favorite Kaori Matsumoto dominated the competition to win the gold medal.

With several star athletes still to come for the Japanese, expect them to still feature prominently throughout the remainder of the Olympics.

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Biggest surprise so far: France (seven medals total)

France have always been strong as far as competing in the medal count goes, but they have perhaps been the biggest surprise of the competition so far—landing seven medals and three gold medals through just three days of competition.

After picking up just seven gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, France are nearly halfway to that target after wins in the men's 4x100-meter freestyle relay, the men's 200-meter freestyle and the women's 400-meter freestyle.

They still have a plethora of strong athletes to come and so we should continue to see the French high in the medal count.

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Biggest flop so far: Great Britain (three medals total)

I know it's still early days and I know there's still plenty of athletes to come, but Great Britain—for all the hype and expectation—have been somewhat of a flop so far.

They have just three medals, and no gold to speak of, with their biggest stars failing to deliver the hosts their opening gold medal of the Games. Rebecca Adlington could only manage bronze in the women's 400-meter freestyle, one of the hosts best medal chances, which as left Great Britain way down the medal count in 14th position.

The likes of Victoria Pendleton are sure to boost the host nation's medal count, but with so many athletes competing for Great Britain, three medals and no gold is not the way they would have liked to start the 2012 London Olympic Games.